


Songs of Another Universe

by Doc_Cairo



Category: RWBY, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universes, F/F, Gen, Song fic, collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2018-07-27 15:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doc_Cairo/pseuds/Doc_Cairo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of song fic. | Steven Universe + the music of RWBY. </p><p>Recent Tracks</p><p>4- Lusus Naturae<br/>A young scientist's life intertwines with both corrupted gems and events that shape history.</p><p>3 - The Path to Isolation<br/>The newly minted Rose Quartz is indoctrinated in the ways of Homeworld, per standard procedure. But Rose will find cause to break away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01 | Divide

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [RWBY Soundtracks](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/303783) by Jeff Williams. 



> Each track is it's own continuity. Some will fit into canon, others are AUs or What-Ifs. Some will be angst. Some will be plot. A lot will be ships. I just really love this music people, and it gives me so many ideas/feels.
> 
> All songs are from the soundtrack of RWBY, which is created and performed by Jeff Williams and his daughter Casey Lee Williams, with guest work by Sandy Lee Casey and Lamar Hall. When possible, I will provide a link to listen to the tracks with each chapter.
> 
> Thank you for your time, and please enjoy 'Songs of Another Universe'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On what will be the final day of Rose's Rebellion, the diamond authority prepares to strike the final blow.
> 
> Set to the song "Divide". Some lyrics have been altered or omitted.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDXgbdhj5Zc

Snowflake Obsidian was not a high ranking member of the crystal gems. A good and loyal fighter, committed to the cause.  And when she'd been captured, she knew it probably meant she would be shattered. At a minimum. She didn't expect a rescue attempt, but wouldn't have been surprised by one either... her comrades would typically have tried, but she doubted they would be able to reach her where she was now.  Contained in a dome, looked over by the Diamonds.

 _**Does it feel good? Knowing you tried?** _  
_**Knowing that all that remains** _  
_**Is the slow cold brutal death** _  
_**Of the fools that will all die in vain**_

The diamonds accused. Their typical rhetoric. Resistance was futile. You exist only to serve the diamonds. The natural order. Defiance meant death. She'd believed it when she'd been made. But everything changed when she'd met Rose Quartz. And now... she would be proud to die defiant. She expected a Jasper or an Amethyst or some other Quartz to walk in here and shatter her. What she hadn't expected was the devices on mechanical arms that had been pointed at her. "Begin the test!" She heard one of the diamonds subordinates yell.

 _**How does it feel** _  
_**Knowing your efforts will fail?** _  
_**All that you've built will be torn down** _  
_**the hope of your people assailed** _

In the rafters of the base, unnoticed by the diamonds or any of the gems below, a renegade pearl lie in wait. She was here to rescue. She hadn't expected to find all three diamonds in one place, which had forced a change of plans. As much as she wanted to save her, she couldn't risk being captured too, leaving Rose and the rest of the war effort crippled. But what she was witnessing now was nothing she'd expected. Some kind of experiment?

 _ **Send your guardians**_  
_**They will fail**_  
_**Legends and heroes will crumble and fall**_  
_**You will not prevail**_

Pearl couldn't really explain what she saw happen to Snow. There was a light... and a faint sound that disturbed her, but seemed mostly contained by the dome she was trapped in. And she could see her screaming. In agony. And then lose control of her form. Becoming a monster. This was... a weapon... something truly horrible. Rose had to be warned.

"I'm so sorry... Snow..." She whispered as she fled the way she'd snuck in.

Below, the diamonds looked down upon the result of their experiment. Blue Diamond looked displeased. Yellow Diamond presented grim determination. White was but an emotionless mask.

 _ **When allied together**_  
_**A threat gems display**_

Blue Diamond knew they had to stop the rebellion, but this seemed needless cruel, and far too destructive. So many gems could be lost and all the Earth's resources.

 _ **Divide them with doubt**_  
_**It will all wash away**_

Yellow Diamond knew this plan would work. The most effective way to stop the rebellion at this point was to turn them on each other. Rose Quartz had won their hearts, but her device would take their minds.

 _ **One spark can incite their hope**_  
_**And ignite the hearts of their weary souls**_  
_**I will extinguish that flame**_

White broke the deadlock, but did not explain her motivations. Blue was overridden. The corruption bomb would be used. An evacuation order was quietly issued to all home-world forces. White and Blue Diamond departed, while Yellow remained to oversee the final stage.

 _**Form your armies dream your dreams** _  
_**Make your plans and plot your schemes** _

Pearl arrived back at the Crystal Gems base, and told Rose of what she had seen. Of what the Diamonds had created. Within moments, the strongest among them had mustered a strike force. Among them was Pearl's close friend, the fusion Garnet, who's immense strength in battle struck equal fear into home-world as her own legend. With one last rousing speech, Rose led her army into the warp.

 _**Send your fighters one and all** _  
_**Then in battle watch them fall** _

Stealth was neither possible or necessary. Shield and sword in hand, Rose Quartz obliterated the door into the laboratory. Between them and the machine, an army of rubies and quartzes... and the imposing shadow of Yellow Diamond.  She did not engage in the battle herself... but instead used her words to strike blows at Rose's soul.

 _**It was you who ended their lives** _  
_**Made them to dig their own graves** _  
_**With your dark, sick, cruel design** _  
_**Convinced them their world should be saved** _

The battle raged, Garnet and Pearl fighting alongside rose. The Crystal Gems used their advantage of fusion to push back and destroy the forms of many of the enemy soldiers. Still, Yellow Diamond did not raise her hand.

 _**Have you no shame?** _  
_**Signing them up for your war** _  
_**Train them to fight what they can't beat** _  
_**Your sins are what they'll pay for** _

_**Sacrifice them** _  
_**For your needs** _  
_**Slaughter is coming the end drawing near** _  
_**You'll regret your deeds** _

Despite her admonitions, the Crystal Gems prevailed. The quartz squadron defeated and bubbled... most of their forces still on their feet. Rose faced down Yellow Diamond, who did not move to defend herself. This would end now. She readied a massive overhead strike. Her blade passed straight through... Yellow Diamond only flickered. She wasn't really here. A projection. A hologram. And it spoke one last time.

 _**These children you mislead** _  
_**You'll watch them all bleed** _  
_**Love will not bring victory** _

A trap. Rose only had time throw up a bubble and her shield around herself, Pearl and Garnet, the only ones still in range of her powers.

The corruption bomb went off.

 _**Divide them** _  
_**Tear them apart** _  
_**Sever their trust** _  
_**It will strangle their hearts** _

As the smoke cleared, the three could barely see out of the extra thick bubble that had shielded them. But they would never forget what they saw. Their comrades in agony. Their forms losing control. Their minds vanishing forever into the darkness.

 _**Inside them** _  
_**Plant seeds of doubt** _  
_**Hope will be smothered** _  
_**They'll turn on each other** _

The three were forced to defend themselves. They bubbled who they could, but many of the corrupted beasts fled in all directions. They'd even been forced to shatter some of their most powerful allies who simply would not stay down, bubbled or not. As Garnet and Pearl looked upon the wreckage, they questioned. Was it worth it?

 _**Hatred will sprout** _  
_**Suspicion and doubt** _  
_**Friendships deny** _  
_**While allegiances die** _

But hurt more than either of them was Rose. The ones she led, who she'd inspired and in turn had inspired her. She knelt over the shattered and cried harder than Pearl had ever seen... but her tears failed. They were alone.

Back on Homeworld, Yellow Diamond watched the energy signatures of the crystal gems tear each other apart and scatter to the winds. The Earth colony would be unusable, but the rebellion was stomped out, it's leaders almost certainly dead, and her own personal experiment at the planets core would eventually give birth to an even greater asset, and wipe away the evidence of home-world's only defeat.

Rose picked up the gems war banner. They were still here. And this planet would not fall. And if the diamonds ever returned, this atrocity would be avenged.

 _**The taste will be sweet** _  
_**When you get what you've earned** _  
_**And i'll watch you burn** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was written as a stand alone before I decided to make this a series, and if I recall correctly this was written sometime between "Monster Reunion" and "Bismuth", just for proper frame of reference.


	2. 02 | Armed and Ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper is uncorrupted and learns the truth of Pink Diamond's death.
> 
> Set to the song "Armed and Ready". Some lyrics have been altered or omitted.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvnmpsWTsBo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each track is it's own continuity. Some will fit into canon, others are AUs or What-Ifs. Some will be angst. Some will be plot. A lot will be ships. I just really love this music people, and it gives me so many ideas/feels.
> 
> All songs are from the soundtrack of RWBY, which is created and performed by Jeff Williams and his daughter Casey Lee Williams, with guest work by Sandy Lee Casey and Lamar Hall. When possible, I will provide a link to listen to the tracks with each chapter.
> 
> Thank you for your time, and please enjoy 'Songs of Another Universe'

**_It happens every night_ **  
**_I watch my world ignite_ _  
_ _But there’s no waking from this nightmare_**

Conventional wisdom was that gems remained unconscious in stasis bubbles. That’s true of most gems. Of course, no one was ever able to ask a corrupted gem about the experience. They’d tell you it was a damn dirty lie.

 **_The stage is always set_ **  
**_The place I can’t forget_ _  
_ _The hidden eyes that I can feel there_**

Days, months, millenia; she had no idea how long she’d been in there. In hell. Her personal hell. Endless uninterrupted consciousness, forever reliving the worst moments of her life. Present, but powerless to stop it.

 **_My eyes are opened wide_ **  
**_I’m racing to her side_**  
**_there’s nothing that I won’t do for her_**  
**_but this is not a dream_**  
**_my mind repeats the scene_ _  
_ _I can’t forget it and it’s torture_**

The death of her diamond. Her own form then destroyed by the white-clad assassin. And then the memory began again. Repeating. Forever.

UntIl it didn’t.

“Is it working?” A voice in the darkness.

“It worked on the others, I don’t see why not.” A more familiar, more annoying voice in the darkness.

“Shut up here she comes!” An eager voice. The last one she remembered.

Forming. But something was wrong. It was a struggle. It took all she had. And then…

She found herself eye-level with the rebel’s defective Amethyst. Gathered behind her, the assembled Crystal Gems, including the diminutive and disguised Rose Quartz. She realized she wasn’t restrained. Wasn’t contained. And then she realized why.

She wasn’t quite herself. Her form was roughly the size of the undercooked Amethyst she had so heavily shamed. In the background she saw the renegade Pearl smirk. Before she could say anything, before she could summon a weapon, Amethyst was upon her, restraining her with her arms around her torso, and chuckling. She tried to break free, but Amethyst seemed far stronger… stronger than her.

 

Perhaps this was still hell.

 

“What…” She gasped out between Amethyst’s squeezing, “have you clods… done to me?!”

“Fixed you, you’re welcome.” Peridot leaned smugly back in a chair.

“FIXED?!” Jasper yelled indignantly.

“We worked out a fix for corruption.” Pearl said calmly. “It's not perfect but it beats the alternative. But I’ll happily put you back in a bubble if you prefer.” She threatened.

“Pearl, no. We just got her out.” Rose Quartz said. “We at least have to explain…” Amethyst let go and stepped away, putting the smiling gem squarely in her line of sight. The gem who shattered Pink Diamond. The gem who, thousands of years later… had played innocent about it.

 

The mere thought sent her lunging. She was intercepted, her fist stopped in the palm of Amethyst’s hand. Seemingly effortlessly.

 

“Jasper, no hitting. Use your words.” She said condescendingly. Enraged, she threw another punch. She didn’t block this one, but the impact barely moved her at all. Another punch. Nothing. Another. Amethyst gently pushed her back. She went to the floor. Where was her strength?

“The recovery process takes a large amount of gem power.” Peridot told her, arms crossed. “It’ll be a month or two until you have your full strength again.”

“So since fighting isn’t really on the table for you at this point, let’s talk.” Amethyst told her, still standing between her and Rose. Jasper leered back at them, saying nothing.

“Ugh… this is gonna be a long month…” Peridot groaned. “I’m going back to the barn. Keep me posted.”

“Bye Peridot.” Rose said cheerfully.

“So Rose… is this where you try to press me into your service?”

“Ok… that’s gotta stop. I am not my Mom. I’m Steven.”

“You keep repeating the same lies over and over.”

“Well, you don’t seem to have any trouble believing the diamond’s lies.” Steven shot back.

 "The diamonds lying IS a lie.”

 “And what if we had proof?”

  
**_That was before_**  
**_but not anymore_**  
**_I’ve left it behind_**  
**_As much as I’ve lost_**  
**_Once I’m across_ _  
_ _I’ll fight_**

Two weeks later, Jasper sparred with Amethyst. Steven called it “physical therapy”.

The video record of White Diamond’s confession existed mainly due to her underestimation of human technology. The “phone” device used was actually slightly smaller than gem holo recorders. Jasper assumed it would be fake from the beginning. But the things that were said: the malice in her voice. And things about that night that she could not have possibly known without being there that night. And Jasper knew… having just relived that night a thousand times. It still took several viewings for it to set in.

White Diamond. The gem matriarch. The creator of Pink, Blue and Yellow. She made her. Pink had wanted to make peace with the rebels. And so she had broken her.

6,000 years. 6,000 years of hate towards the wrong gem. 6,000 years on the wrong side. She prayed her diamond would forgive her for the wasted time.

  
**_I’ve found the strength to grow so much more_**  
**_A whisper to a roar_**  
**_No more crying_ _  
_ _It’s time for me to soar_**

Gradually, her strength returned. Reluctantly, she made peace with the Crystal Gems. They were preparing to fight Homeworld. When she reformed to regain her proper stature, she returned the diamond on her chest to pink.

Jasper couldn’t summon her helmet. Loss of weapon summoning was apparently a completely irreversible part of the corruption. But Steven had taken her to a hidden armory belonging to his mother… and she had been pleased to find an array of new options.

Her “therapy” concluded with a rematch with Garnet. This time it was not full of hate. This time it was far more even. This time… Jasper was the one who sang out in battle, as her new broadsword clashed with the battleaxe the fusion had pulled from her room in the temple.

  
**_I feel like I’m finally unbroken_**  
**_I feel like I’m back from the dead_**  
**_My strength back,_ _  
_ _Confidence growing_**

 **_Out of my way cause I’m armed and ready!_ **  
**_(Armed and Ready)_**  
**_Ready!_**  
**_(Armed and Ready!)_ _  
_ _I’m Ready!_**

“You’re ready.” Garnet shook her hand after she reformed and re-fused.

“But are you?” Jasper said back, glancing at the rest of the crystal gems… including their many recently uncorrupted troops who were not yet fighting fit.

“Not yet.” Garnet told her, but shot a glance at a group of Rubies who had recently defected. “But you might be able to speed things up…”

  
**_Remember all too well_**  
**_My time of living hell_**  
**_The night my enemy would conquer_**

The concept of sleep was unpleasant to her, as a matter of efficiency. Despite getting her strength back, residual effects from the corruption meant she had to on occasion… at least once a week, or her strength began to falter again. But given that each time she slept she suffered a resurgence of those memories (something Steven called “nightmares”), she refuses to do it any more than necessary.

She had been asleep when it began.  The first of homeworlds attacks. Maybe they realized Rose Quartz had returned to Earth. Maybe they realized the Cluster was way overdue. But troops under Yellow Diamond’s command descended from the sky, just as she herself had years ago. And as then, the Crystal Gems met their enemy on the beach.

 **_But now I’ve been set free_ **  
**_Lived through the tragedy_ _  
_ _You’ll wish you killed me now I’m stronger_**

They would win this time. Jasper fought other Jaspers and Quartzes she knew. They called her a traitor, amongst other vile things. But she did not shatter any of them. She sent them crawling back to their diamonds with a message for White.

  
**_I am the Golden one_**  
**_Who burns just like the sun_**  
**_Next time we meet is your disaster_**  
**_I’ll bring the punishment_**  
**_Your song will be lament_ _  
_ _Revenge my happily ever after_**

“Hey.”

Jasper was startled to hear Lapis. Despite many efforts by Steven and Peridot, neither of them had really interacted much since her return. Both had acknowledged faults in themselves and each other, setting aside whatever was between them for the greater good. They kept their distance, which was awkward, since the small gourd creature that followed her around did really like playing in Jasper’s hair. Which is what it did as Lapis sat down next to her.

“Yes?” Jasper responded.

“I… we need to talk.” She said hesitantly. Jasper gave her all the time she needed to continue, which was almost a full minute. “The next battle… the spies say the Diamonds are coming themselves.” Jasper nodded. “I’m… not sure.”

“Are you still feeling loyalty to Blue?” she asked bluntly.

“Of course not!” she responded, and then her face softened. “Maybe a little… sad that you're probably the only one who will understand that, but that’s not it.”

  
**_My misery_**  
 **_My agony_**  
**Has taught me to fly**  


“Malachite?” Jasper was surprised to hear it. Even the other gems tip-toed around the very word itself, and she hadn’t heard it spoken aloud since she came back.

“If we are fighting the diamonds… all of the diamonds… we need every advantage. And on Earth…”

“Is this really about tactics?” Jasper demanded. “Because I used to think that way too if you recall, and we remember how that turned out!”

“This is my home!” Lapis shot back. “And this isn’t about US!” Jasper looked her in the eye. “We have very different motives, but we want the same thing. I’m willing to try it if you are. We are still stronger together.”

“I… need time to think about it.” Jasper deposited Pumpkin in Lapis’ arms before walking away.

  
**_The pain I went through_ _  
_ _Left me with a new war cry_ **

 Several weeks later in the heat of battle… the decision was made. They were all pinned down under Stevonnie’s massive shield, protecting all of Beach City from the combined firepower of the homeworld fleet.

  
**_I’ll live my life like every day’s the last_**  
**_No living in the past_**  
**_Best days ever_ _  
_ _I’m never looking back!_**

Malachite arose… as did the very ocean itself. Water entered the ships, then froze, expanding and pushing the metal apart. Weapons: destroyed. Engines: crippled. Diamonds: emerging. Their four eyes saw the threat to Earth. The threat to everyone they had come to care about. From the drained ocean floor, Malachite withdrew the massive stone blade that lay buried in the sand. Layers of ice encased the stone core, giving the sword an edge and point like it had never known. They aimed it at their enemy.

 **_I feel like I’m finally unbroken_ **  
**_And now I’m back from the dead_**  
**_My strength back,_**  
**_Confidence growing_**  
**_Out of my way cause I’m armed and ready!_ _  
_ _(Armed and Ready)_**

The final battle for Earth began to rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... that was a lot of ground to cover in four minutes of song.
> 
> There is certainly a lot more to this particular story than what I've actually put on paper. These brief glimpses between verses. But I hope you liked it, and please let your imagination run wild in the gaps.
> 
> I haven't made a decision on the next track yet, I'm torn between a potential Pearl-Rose origin story and a lovely little love song between a certain Ruby and Pearl from Homeworld... let me know your preference, they'll both get made eventually.


	3. 03 | The Path of Isolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newly minted Rose Quartz is indoctrinated in the ways of Homeworld, per standard procedure. But Rose will find cause to break away.
> 
> Set to the song "The Path to Isolation". Some lyrics have been altered or omitted.
> 
> As of this posting, a clean recording of the song has not yet been released, nor official final lyrics. A version of the track with sound effects from it's original scene is available here.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOLnoMqofMM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each track is it's own continuity. Some will fit into canon, others are AUs or What-Ifs. Some will be angst. Some will be plot. A lot will be ships. I just really love this music people, and it gives me so many ideas/feels.
> 
> All songs are from the soundtrack of RWBY, which is created and performed by Jeff Williams and his daughter Casey Lee Williams, with guest work by Sandy Lee Casey and Lamar Hall. When possible, I will provide a link to listen to the tracks with each chapter.
> 
> Thank you for your time, and please enjoy 'Songs of Another Universe'

Rose’s first memory was… a feeling. Not so much a thing that happened, but what she was. She could heal. She could protect. She didn’t want to hurt anyone.

 

Rose’s second memory was a Peridot. Tall, lanky, and bent judgmentally over her balled up form as she lay on the ground, fresh from her hole in the cliff side. She didn’t know what the scientific instruments the Peridot held were meant to do. She didn’t know until later that she was called a Peridot. But she remembered her words.

 

“Hey, G5-7X!” The Peridot with the gem set in her chin shouted at someone. “That new Quartz variant emerged! Come look!” Rose heard a scampering as a slightly shorter one with a gem on her shoulder approached.

“Whoa, she’s a big one.” The shoulder Peridot said. “Well, stand up already!” She shouted at Rose. Confused and startled, Rose complied, the chin Peridot stepping back and aiming her instrument at her.

“Hm… high light density…” She read from the small screen. “Larger than usual, standard quartz readings for the most part…”   
“But does she have the thing?” The shoulder Peridot asked.

“Let’s find out.” The chin one withdrew a red gem shard from a pocket on her jumpsuit. Despite having only recently come into being, Rose felt an instinctive repulsion to it. She dropped it on the ground in front of her.

“Spit on that.” Chin Peridot ordered. Rose obeyed. The gem shard merely became wet.

“DARN IT!” Shoulder Peridot slapped her forehead, then drew a mechanical box of her own from her gem. “G5-7X experimental log. Experiment 43 to create a Quartz capable of generating gem dissolving acid failed. I was so sure we had it this time.”

“Wait… what?” Rose spoke for the first time, hesitantly.

“Specimen still appears to be a fine quartz… with a pleasant voice…” She added. “And otherwise remarkable specs. Recommended for repurposing.”

“Repurposing?” Rose tried to ask, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back. While she had been focused on the one talking into the metal box, the other had walked behind her and casually stabbed her with something. She felt her form disappear. And that was the last she ever saw of her Kindergarten or those Peridots.

 

**_It starts_ **

**_With the unexpected loss_ **

**_Of something dear_ **

 

The next gem she met was an Agate. She was multiple shades or orange and brown, and she hovered over Rose as she reformed, startled.

 

“Get up.” She ordered. Rose obeyed.

“You are a Variant Quartz Type 43. Your designation will be Q3-G43.” She said in a business like tone. “You may be a failed experiment, but your similar enough that you’ll be educated alongside other Quartzes, and will then take on standard Quartz duties.”

“I… don’t understand.”

“You will soon enough.” The Agate led her through a door. “You may be… off-colored, but you're still a well put together quartz and you can still be useful to our diamond.” They entered a room… one with Topazes and Amethysts and Jaspers and other large gems like herself. The Agate left her there. She never saw her again either.

 

**_The warmth_ **

**_That comforted and cradled_ **

**_Just dissapears_ **

 

Over the next hours… or perhaps it was days… information was beamed right into her mind. What gems were. About the diamonds. About how, as a Quartz, she was meant to be a specific thing. A fighter, a soldier… a killer. And how at odds this flood of new information was with her first, defining memories.

 

**_And in it’s place there’s nothing_ **

**_Just an endless empty void_ **

**_The light that shown the way is gone_ **

**_And darkness takes control_ **

 

That time of her life was a blur. At some point the gems in charge of their “education” discovered the experiment hadn’t been a complete failure. She couldn’t spit acid… but when she was driven to tears after seeing a Clear Quartz broken for disobedience, her ability to heal was discovered. 

 

And it turned out to be the worst part of the whole ordeal. One of the Beryls in charge had an idea. Apparently, there were a lot of occasions where gems needed to be questioned or punished, but they would be broken before it was “complete.” The Beryl reasoned that… with this power… she could break them. And heal them. And break them. And heal them again. And then break them…

 

Variant Quartz Type 43 was renamed to “Rose Quartz”. A full facet of her kind were commissioned to be incubated on a new colony planet. This new class of gem would be punishment and interrogation specialists.

 

**_Bitterness and anger…_ **

**_Are quick to fill the void_ **

 

They told her she should be proud. She was the progenitor of a new type of gem, a great honor. And they put her to work.

 

**_The path to isolation_ **

**_Is paved in all the dreams that they destroy_ **

 

And work she did. The tasks she was assigned, so antithetical to her nature… all she could do was avoid thinking about it. Questioning it. She punished gems. She tortured gems. She put them back together and repeated the process until her superior was satisfied and the poor gem under her boot was finally allowed the final peace; the cessation of existence.

 

**_The cold..._ **

**_Seems to grow in my soul_ **

**_It’s consuming me_ **

**_I’m confused_ **

**_Am I losing myself in the storm?_ **

 

What she did apparently had some value, because as more Rose Quartzes emerged from the Kindergarten, she found herself sometimes assigned elsewhere. Security for elite social functions or scouting missions, like other quartzes. The new ones that were being made were better programmed with the specific disposition homeworld had in mind for their role. However, whenever something major happened, the elites in charge usually demanded THE Rose Quartz be called into administer the punishment/interrogation… if for no other reason than to make themselves and their concerns feel more important.

 

**_Growing jaded_ **

**_Being pushed, being pulled_ **

**_I’m unraveling_ **

**_Can’t find myself_ **

**_when I’m constantly forced to conform_ **

 

She wanted to stop this. To never lay a hand or weapon on anyone ever again. She wanted it with every fiber of her being. But what else was there? One thing above all else had been hammered in during the orientation with the other Quartzes. Obey or be broken.

 

There was a party. She had been ordered there by the Beryl who first created her role. Mainly so that she could stand there while she bragged about the brilliance of repurposing this defective off-color to the other elites. It wasn’t the first time she’d done that. Although this time she’d called in two other Rose Quartzes alongside her. Two who… excelled… at their duties. Their mere presence made Rose feel ill.

**_Enemies surround me_ **

**_But the worse appear as friends_ **

**_Liars and pretenders_ **

**_Using me to reach their ends_ **

 

There was an unusual attraction at this party. The night’s entertainment… a particularly disgraceful matter in Rose’s eyes: Pearl fighting. Frail, peaceful gems with no combat training ordered to fight each other for their owners entertainment. Technically illegal, but a popular pastime amongst the elites who had more Pearls than sense and enough status to evade scrutiny. Rose had no choice but to sit between the other two Rose Quartz… who seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, and watch. As an opaque white pearl dissipated another's form, tears in her eyes and an exhausted look on her face, the Rose Quartz to her left elbowed her.

“That’s a feisty one…” She said. “Wouldn’t mind breaking that. How bout you?” Rose could only return a disgusted look at her younger counterpart.

 

**_Everything is breaking_ **

**_Right before my eyes_ **

**_Looking in the mirror_ **

**_I see someone I don’t recognize_ **

 

What happened next was a blur. The owner of the recently poofed Pearl had gone to retrieve it from the fighting floor, yelling insults at the victor, who still held a thin sword and looked even more desperate. The other gem struck her… and she struck back. Blade through the elite’s throat. Their form disappeared in a puff of smoke, as most gems in the room immediately drew their weapons and yelled orders for security, including the Rose Quartzes. The white Pearl seemed as shocked by her actions as the rest of the room, finding herself backed into a corner, her weapon dropped. A look of absolute terror.

 

“Well…” The Beryl spoke above the room, commanding the attention of the elites surrounding her. “...how fortunate that we should have THE Rose Quartz here tonight, isn’t it?!” Someone in the crowd laughed.

“Looks like I’m getting my wish.” The one to her left said as she stepped forward. The one on her right followed while Rose remained frozen in place. Beryl glared at Rose, catching her hesitation.

“Q3…” Beryl called out Rose specifically. “Do your job.”

“But... I don’t…”

“Do. Your. Job.” Rose’s eyes focused on the other two Rose Quartzes, who had already drawn serrated whips from their gems.

 

**_Mirror, what’s this thing I see?_ **

**_Who is staring back at me?_ **

**_This stranger to my heart that’s filled my mind?_ **

 

This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t right. All of this was wrong. Everything. Everything she’d done and everything she’d ever been told but what could she do? She’d known it was wrong all along… she knew that she’d just repressed it. Because she didn’t have a choice. No one had a choice. Gems didn’t have a choice. She didn’t have a choice… she didn’t...

 

**_Mirror…_ **

**_Help me…_ **

**_Who… am… I?_ **

 

* * *

 

 

Pearl regenerated in the same corner she had been backed into. She didn’t remember what took her out. But she remember the first thing she saw with that set of eyes.

 

Rose Quartz. THE Rose Quartz. And every other gem in the room lay formless on the floor. She seemed out of breath… with a thousand yard stare… staring at unprecedented act of rebellion that had been committed. She didn’t know why she had turned on them. She didn’t know anything about this gem… aside from the fearsome reputation of what Rose Quartzes were. But somehow she had intervened on her behalf. She couldn’t fathom why.

 

“Rose Quartz?” Pearl called to her. She remained in shock. “Q3?” She tried calling the designation code she’d heard the Beryl use, and still go no response. She ran to the gems side and grabbed her arm to shake her out of it.

 

“ROSE!!!” She yelled, and she finally turned and looked at Pearl, the hair obscuring her face shifting to reveal it. Tears streamed down her face… sadness and regret Pearl had never seen from any other gem. Pearl had so many questions for her… but there wasn’t much time. If she’d reformed then surely... 

 

“We have to go.” Pearl said, picking up the sword she’d dropped earlier and heading for an exit. “Come with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story will pick up from here in a future chapter, when the now rogue Rose and Pearl formally decide to launch the rebellion. I'm planning to use "This Life is Mine" for that one.
> 
> I really like the idea that some of those other Rose Quartzes bubbled at the Zoo were NOT good people, and I really hope the show does something with that idea at some point.


	4. 04 | Lusus Naturae

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young scientist's life intertwines with both corrupted gems and events that shape history.
> 
> Set to the song "Lusus Naturae". Some lyrics have been altered or omitted.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWA6YlVMwqQ

**_Gnarled and mangled_ **

**_Warped deformed_ **

**_They see nightmares_ **

**_A mutant swarm_ **

I always liked listening to the fanciful tales the carriage drivers tell. Of the beasts that roam the countryside that defy scientific explanation. Bizarre colors and strange abilities… sometimes hostile, sometimes not. These beasts, with unnatural colors and gleaming stones set in their body, seemed too unbelievable to me.

Until I encountered one myself.

**_June 1779_ **

i was 19 and about to begin my time at the university; my uncle and I were returning from Verona when we came across it. After all these years, the image is still crystal clear in my mind. A long snake like body, greener than the foliage surrounding it. It stood on two of its four legs but it’s front two seemed vestigial and useless. Set into its torso… a gemstone. Round, 6-8 inches, brilliant faceted emerald. It looked at our carriage… or I assume it did. It didn’t have eyes, but it somehow sensed us, and in it’s panic let out a shrill sound before disappearing into the woods.

**_I see beauty_ **

**_Underneath_ **

**_I see promise_ **

**_In nature's freak_ **

This proved formative in my time at university. I poured over historical documents. Tales of these gem creatures permeated history and word of mouth, but science had yet to crack the enigma. I studied biology, geology, and other sciences. Everything in this world could be explained. And in time I decided, explaining this would be my life’s work.

**_September 1801_ **

I had a place for myself in academia. I lectured in Bologna on biology. But this was just an end to my research. I sought to capture these creatures. Study them. With my salary I commissioned renowned big game hunters, sent them on hunts.  For some time it was fruitless. And then...

**_A mystery, no blood or bone_ **

**_Soul-less, origin unknown_ **

**_Twisted devils, monsters lost to time_ **

**_January 1804_ **

“Dr. Aldini… I’m gonna say this one more time. This is not a good idea.” The hunter stood with his arms crossed in the classroom. The desks and equipment of the room had been pushed to it’s edges to create a large open space in the center, where a metal cage sat alone, like a pedestal with nothing on display.

“Reginald, you have your gun. What’s the danger?” I asked. “If it becomes a threat, you can neutralize it again.”

“Easy for you to say.” He paused, sighed, and then picked his rifle up off the desk behind him. “Fine, but I won’t be held responsible for the damage.”

“Just be certain not to strike the stone itself.” I said, before I took the metal tongs in my hand. I loosened the vice grip attached to the table so that the red stone could be removed, grasped it with the tongs, and walked it to the center of the room, threading the tongs and the gemstone between the bars of the cage. Though I knew it to be more durable, I handled the precious stone like glass, and after setting it gingerly on the stone floor, withdrew the tongs and myself to a safe distance, retreating to the side of my associate.

“It’ll take it a minute to realize it’s not restrained.” Reginald told me. “Brace yourself.”

“You seem to think I’m afraid.” I responded. I was not afraid. I was riveted with excitement. The red stone arose around four feet straight in the air of it’s own volition, but not exiting the cage. It began to glow red, and the red spread. It took several shapes over the next few seconds… one of which was vaguely humanoid… before it took the shape of a beast. 

As the light faded, what stood before us appeared to be a bipedal wolf. It was larger than a man, but smaller than a bear or even a horse. It’s exposed skin was red like an apple all around, and where it had hair, mainly on its limbs and head, it was a darker red that resembled dried blood. Again, like the green snake gem I had seen as a child… it had no eyes. But it saw us. It looked at us. With no eyes. I could feel it. And again, as a child, I knew I was dealing with something truly of another world. It continued to make fearful and threatening noises at us… scratching at the stone floor and flailing in vain against the steel bars, which would not yield. It eventually settled with a whimper, and the hunter lowered his gun to his side.

“Well Doctor… you wanted one in captivity. There you go.”

“Reginald…though you may not yet realize it, you have forever changed the course of history. I’ll make sure you get credit for that.” I told him.

“Keep looking. Find more. I’ll pay you triple.”

I had every intention of making Reginald as famous as I would surely be. But when he died less than two months later trying to bring in a rather large quartz, I had little choice but to cover up his involvement. I couldn’t have other freelancers too scared to gather more specimens. Men with guns were frightfully common in comparison to these beautiful creatures...

**_They don't know_ **

**_They don't understand_ **

**_There's a goal_ **

**_It's my master plan_ **

**_December 1804_ **

One year and three more gems into my research, I was removed from my post with the university. The reasons for this were… questionable. Ridiculous I would even say. I may have violated specific rules in my research, but given it’s groundbreaking nature, deviation from the norm should have been expected. This work is so vital, so revolutionary, I should have had carte blanche to do whatever needed to be done. My work is no less ethical than any other scientific or medical research on any other animal.

**_These simple minded fools just see my plans abstruse_ **

**_I'll give the monster's life a use_ **

And now… they planned to shut me down? To take my specimens? My gems? No… I wouldn’t allow that. They didn’t understand them. Only I understood them. And so I reverted them to stone form and smuggled them out of the university. I would continue my research… wherever I could. I carried the inert stones to France where I found a new benefactor. And though he seemed less scientifically interested, he had similar ideas of how the science could be applied. And I had more funding and more specimens than I ever had in Bologna. The french captured more Rubies, Quartzes, and other gems from across the spectrum. Over the next few months, my research accelerated dramatically.

**_Awaken my brood_ **

**_Today you will rise_ **

**_I've given you life_ **

**_My lusus naturae_ **

**_Open your eyes_ **

**_April 1805_ **

Despite recreating their mass in full by currently unknown means, that body still behaves in a predictable way. The gemstone itself appears to function as the brain of a gem. By applying electrical currents to the stone, one can trigger reflex motions in the body, just as in humans and ordinary animals. All the gems I’ve dealt with so far seem to be conductive in this fashion, despite their natural, non-anomalous counterparts being insulators. I used to think of galvanism as just a scientific curiosity, but with more fine tuning I might be able to achieve full control… and as dear Reginald proved, gems are more than a match for any human in battle…

**_*pages torn from journal*_ **

**_December 1805_ **

The Ruby Corp deployed at Austerlitz routed the Russian artillery while minimizing loss of human life. The Emperor is pleased, and is increasing my budget. While I still disagree on these subjects being battle ready, I am grateful for the continued faith in my research. He’s also having something delivered to me from America. Apparently, it’s a gem related artefact found in the Louisiana territory, and it may hold information on the origin of these creatures. If that’s true…

**_Created in a netherworld_ **

**_Into this realm you were hurled_ **

**_But scientifically misunderstood_ **

**_I will decode and knowledge gain_ **

**_Your mysteries I will explain_ **

**_I'll lucubrate and change you for the good_ **

**_*large section destroyed*_ **

**_June 1813_ **

The Ruby Corp and Quartz Corp were captured or destroyed at Vitoria. Tales seeping in from the front claim that the British have deployed gem soldiers of their own, but different. Humanoid. Intelligent. Wielding weapons. Using tactics. Everything I ever promised Napoleon but failed to deliver despite all my work. How? How could someone usurp me on this? And who? Surely someone must be leaking my research to the enemy, it’s the only way.

**_The fools they've placed in power_ **

**_Try to halt my dreams_ **

**_They will fail to stop me_ **

**_Gems I will redeem_ **

I’ve been given till the end of summer to deliver proof that I can create an intelligent specimen. Or else I will be replaced…but the injector’s work is nearly done… if only I had a few more weeks than I’ve been allotted…

**_I'm your god_ **

**_I will make you grow_ **

**_You're my own_ **

**_twisted embryo_ **

Hurry, my Ametrine. I will hold them back at gunpoint if I must until you emerge.

_**They call me sick obsessed** _

_**A madman with no proof** _

_**In triumph I will show the truth** _

 

_**Awaken my brood** _

_**Today you will rise** _

_**I've given you life** _

_**My lusus naturae** _

_**Open your eyes** _

 

_**Where evolution failed** _

_**Science will prevail** _

_**What nature warped** _

_**I will restore** _

_**I will love** _

_**What all abhor** _

**_September 1813 - Final Page_ **

She is here. She is beautiful…

* * *

“The facility is clear.” Garnet ducked as she stepped through the low door frame. Even ducking, she still had to raise a hand to hold her maroon tricorn hat in place. “Pearl and Amethyst are talking to the survivors.”

“Thank you Garnet.” Rose said quietly, as she stood up from the man’s corpse, holding an aged and damaged journal. Set in the wall behind herself and the body, a Kindergarten injector was half buried in the ground, with an oval shaped pit in the floor where it pointed. Garnet glanced down at the man, then at the notebook. She skimmed the possible futures for the information Rose was about to impart to her.

“We were too late.”

“Yes.” Rose said solemnly. “Would you like to read it?” She offered the journal to the fusion.

“No… I think it would hurt too much.” Garnet told her.

“You’d be right.” Rose muttered, before bubbling the manuscript and sending it away. She stepped over the man’s body, then stared at the pit in the floor.  “I don’t understand… why would she kill them?”

“Even if they figured out how to power the injector, they didn’t have any idea how to use it. The gem that emerged was probably mindless.”

“But if that were the case…” Rose slid slowly down the sheer dirt slope. “Why would she break herself?” Garnet walked over to the pit and looked down into it, where Rose stood over the shattered remains of an Ametrine.

They would never know the answer to that question. But one things was abundantly clear… had been clear since corrupted gems had begun to appear on European battlefields. Humans could not be trusted to co-exist with the wild corrupted gems. They would need to round them all up… for the protection of both sides.

“Garnet… it’s going to take a long time. A very long time.” Rose picked up Ametrine’s shards and bubbled them. “But we’re going to find and bubble them all. So that no human can ever do this again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure I got so many historical details wrong, I basically just checked against a Wikipedia timeline for battle dates, but assuming the divergences in SU history I don't think it was super relevant. I just apologize in advance to any history nerds reading this.


End file.
